Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Red Rocket: Simon Rex says he ‘wasn’t allowed’ to keep prosthetic penis from film

‘It will be in a museum one day,’ actor joked

Isobel Lewis
Monday 21 March 2022 10:55 GMT
Comments
Red Rocket official trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Simon Rex has admitted that he “wasn’t allowed” to keep his prosthetic penis from Red Rocket.

The actor stars in Sean Baker’s latest film as Mikey Sabre, a washed-up porn star who moves back to his Texas hometown and starts up a relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Earlier this month, Rex was named Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards and revealed during his acceptance speech that he had used a prosthetic throughout the film, saying: “Thank you Film Independent for recognising my fake penis.”

Speaking to People, the 47-year-old actor said that he “wasn’t allowed” to keep the appendage after filming wrapped.

“I don’t think that was an option, but it will be in a museum one day,” he said.

Rex – who has previously worked in the adult entertainment industry himself – also said that he and The Florida Project director Baker had initially wanted to keep secret whether the penis was real or not.

“​​I just had fun with it, and me and Sean Baker... we agreed that we were going to keep it mysterious, and not say whether or not that was really me naked,” he said.

“And at that point, after we won the Spirit Award, I said, ‘It’s time to tell people.’ We did this for eight months. We somehow got away with it for eight months. It was just time to let people know.”

You can read The Independent’s four-star review of Red Rocket here.

Red Rocket is in cinemas now.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in